Phillips Exeter Academy Campus Lockdown Drill Using ATI Systems’ Mass Notification Solution

Phillips Exeter Academy (PEA) in Exeter, New Hampshire has a campus-wide mass notification system to provide instant warnings to students, faculty, staff, and visitors in an emergency situation.

This alerting system consists of ATI Systems’ high-powered outdoor and indoor speaker units that can be activated in seconds when an emergency occurs. PEA Campus Safety Services simply chooses a dropdown menu on the ATI computer located in the PEA Operations Center, makes a selection from the list of pre-recorded alerts, and hits the button. The whole process takes a few seconds.

The emergency alert is then broadcast over the campus, outside buildings and inside classrooms and hallways. Instructions are given to shelter in place and the campus goes into a pre-planned series of actions for the lockdown (barricade doors, keep away from windows, etc.).

On Wednesday, November 9, 2022, the school performed the first of its two annual Campus Lockdown Drills, which are mandated by the State of New Hampshire to be run annually. Students, faculty, staff, and visitors were instructed as to the correct procedure for this drill.

The pre-recorded alert was broadcast outdoors over the campus through the large ATI Public Address Speakers mounted on campus buildings and utility poles. The indoor alert message was heard through a series of indoor speakers mounted in all inhabited campus buildings. (The ATI system also features a microphone for live messages, if needed.) The Campus Lockdown Drill took several minutes to perform, and the ATI Systems speaker solution performed flawlessly.

The Campus Lockdown Drill was presided over by Phillips Exeter Academy Director of Campus Safety Services and Risk Management Paul Gravel and by Safety Operations Manager Andrew Pixley. These gentlemen have been with PEA Campus Safety Services for many years, and they run the Campus Lockdown Drill annually.

Phillips Exeter Academy relies on the alerting solution provided by ATI. Paul Gravel said, “ATI Systems has been a reliable partner for us over many years. They have an excellent alert system as well as great service, and we trust ATI Systems to help keep our campus community safe.”